Grads' job searches bring mixed results

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Patrick Thomas and Lauren Smith graduated from North Hagerstown High School and Towson (Md.) University together -- and less than five weeks from today, they plan to be married.

There's just one hitch -- neither has a job yet.

But Thomas, 24, and Smith, 21, are hopeful.

Nothing, not even this economy, will force them to postpone their wedding, which is scheduled for July 11, they said.

"We've been planning for three years. We've been engaged for three years, dating for six," Smith said. "It's about time."

"We've had a lot of help from the family, plus there's the money that's been saved," Thomas said. "Plus, I have confidence in myself that I can find a job. There's no doubt in my mind."

Other recent area college graduates seem to be confident, too.

"There's always something open in the entertainment business, so I'll find something," said Scott Leverett, 22, of Hagerstown, who just graduated from Ithaca (N.Y.) College with a degree in film, photography and visual arts.

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"I feel the economy is a pattern, a circle," Leverett said. "I feel it will come back eventually."

All work, no pay

Graduates Caitlin Berry and Blinne Nolan have found jobs.

Berry, 22, of Hagerstown, who received a bachelor of fine arts degree with a concentration in graphic design in May from Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., is working for a graphic arts company in Frederick, Md.

She's had to start as an unpaid intern, but Berry considers herself fortunate, given the economy.

"Only reason I got this job was because I knew somebody who worked there," she said.

Berry said she applied for probably 50 jobs shown online on Craigslist and CareerBuilder.

"As long as it was in driving distance, I didn't care where it was," she said.

But the few companies that answered only had unpaid internships.

"My teachers told me it was going to be tough," Berry said. "I knew the economy was bad. I just wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was."

Now though, Berry is doing what she loves. She hopes to become a company designer or to do freelance work someday.

But "if someone's has to be put on hold, it will be mine because I can do all of my course work through the Internet," she said. "He can't really do that."

An exercise in frustration

Patrick Thomas and Lauren Smith graduated from Towson on May 21.

He received a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a concentration in management, and she earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

The way they had it planned, Smith was going to get a job first.

After all, there was a shortage of hospital nurses a few years back when the economy was better and turnover was higher. Because of the shortage, Maryland had awarded Smith a scholarship, requiring her to work as a nurse in the state for two years after graduation.

So imagine her frustration now in this economy as nurses are staying put and there are few vacancies.

"I started looking all the way back in February, right when the semester started," Smith said.

But, she said, wherever she has looked throughout the state, there are hardly any nursing jobs open and most require at least a year or two of experience.

Some nursing students do that sort of work while in college, but Smith, who is certified by Maryland as a pharmacy technician, stayed with the part-time job she'd had since high school at a Hagerstown pharmacy.